The Alpenglow
by Powerhouse411
Summary: When Chrom and Lissa find a lad lying unconscious in a field, they can't help but to chuckle at the similarities between him and their beloved Robin. Though Robin may NOT be happy about having an expy and Frederick is as wary as ever, it isn't long before the lads finds himself enlisting into the Shepherds alongside a lass with an Earthstone of all things...
1. The Southtown Trilogy - Part 1

Author's Note: Please only read this if you are **NOT** new to this fic. Otherwise you'll be spoiling yourself.

Alrighty. It's time for me to fess up to something. I first wrote this chapter a good amount of time before I ever posted it. Truth be told, I only decided to post this chapter on a whim. I didn't have any intention of continuing it. I just wanted to get something posted on . It was something of a dream of mine since I spent my Middle- and High School years reading fanfiction here without ever posting anything.

Either way, I eventually decided to actually finish this little story of mine. And in the process of doing so I come up with what I think is a pretty nifty plot. Thing is, the details of this plot contradict one of the details of this first chapter. That one thing is the timeline. Considering the fact that I REALLY want to do this plot, I'mma institute a retcon. I apologize for having to do so and I promise it wont be happening again anytime soon if not at all.

With that said, I hope I can write this to the end and that y'all stick with me to the end. With that said, time to make the edit and get to writing the third part of the Southtown Trilogy. Look forward to it. I'm trying to make it a good one! 8D

* * *

_"__Chrom, we have to do something!"_ somewhat heard Aaron as he reluctantly roused himself from the best sleep he's ever had.

_"What do you propose we do?"_ heard Aaron next, this time with perfect clarity. Though the significance of what he was hearing had yet to dawn upon him.

_"I__-I__ don't know,"_ was the last straw. Now Aaron knew **exactly** what was going on and, truth be told, was pretty excited about it. Immediately Aaron opened his eyes...

...and was greeted by the sight of **four** people. Chrom, Lissa, Frederick, and an individual whose appearance was suspiciously similar to that of a female avatar whom he had once pitted The Shepherds against.

"You guys are a riot, you know that?" snorted the individual, much to Chrom and Lissa's amusement. Frederick's expression bore none of the mirth that his charges were relishing in. Instead it was as blank as freshly bought printing paper. As if the Great Knight was in the middle of a round of poker.

"Grr," Aaron half-heartedly hissed at Frederick while swiping at the air between the Great Knight and himself in a manner which was reminiscent of a livid kitten. "I'm hella dangerous so you best be on your guard! Grr!"

"It has yet to be seen whether or not you're a threat to my lord- and ladies-of-liege," grumbled a flustered Frederick more to himself than to Aaron, a flush of embarrassment rising to his cheeks as he did so. "So I shall be keeping a **close** eye on you,"

"I see you're awake now," snickered Chrom, prompting an indignant huff from both the individual and Frederick.

"Hey there," greeted Lissa in a stifled giggle. By this point, Aaron was well aware that Chrom and Lissa were outright parodying their meeting with the avatar. In spite of the fact that he was not exactly fond of the idea of being the supposedly uninformed subject of an inside joke, Aaron decided to play along.

"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground you know," said Chrom a moment before he offered a helping hand to Aaron. "Give me your hand,"

Without hesitation, Aaron accepted Chrom's offer. He took the Great Lord's hand within his own, and then allowed himself to be pulled to his feet.

"You all right?" asked Chrom seriously, letting go of Aaron's hand as he did so.

"Y-yes," answered Aaron, intentionally in a stammer. "Thank you, Chrom,"

"It's official now. This entire situation creeps me out," murmured the individual to Frederick at a volume which would have made the murmur inaudible to Aaron if he didn't have the hearing of an attentive cat. "It's feels like I'm being replaced..."

"Ah, then you know who I am?" asked Chrom with a cheeky grin on his face, obviously amused by how "coincidental" Aaron's choice of words were. Aaron took a look from the corner of his eye and saw that the individual was cringing. It was then that he decided to bring an end to the festivities.

"Who doesn't?" rhetorically questioned Aaron with a shrug. Much to Aaron's satisfaction, the individual sighed in relief at his choice of words.

"Give me a break!" pouted Lissa with a stamp of her foot. "You were **this** close to being **exactly** like her! What a let down,"

"Considering the fact that he's Chrom and you're Lissa..." begun Aaron before pointing a finger towards Frederick and then the individual herself. "...that makes you Frederick and you Robin,"

"Being able to identify the Prince and his sister is one thing.." started Frederick, his expression darkening with suspicion as he did so. "...but being able to identify military personnel is another! Who are you?"

"I, Frederick the Wary, am-"

_"NO! PLEASE! NOT MY DIC-AHH! WHY NAGA? WHY?"_

"I think Southtown is under attack," murmured a disturbed Robin, prompting Chrom to raise an eyebrow.

"You **think**?"

"Well, you never know..."

"Hesitation spawns death!" suddenly declared Aaron in a manner that was as over-dramatic as it was loud, baffling the Shepherds into an awkward silence as he did so. Immediately afterward, Aaron helped himself to an iron sword – which Chrom had been keeping as an alternative to "sullying the sanctity of the Falchion" as Rosemary put it – and then struck a Kamina-esque pose. "Either your own or another's! So I'm off. Wish me luck, my sheep-tending compatriots!"

"Wait!" futilely called Chrom as Aaron sped off towards Southtown with naught but the clothes on his back and the iron sword he'd managed to pilfer from Chrom. Chrom slammed the palm of his hand into his face as loudly as he could. With a groan, the Ylissean prince leapt onto the rump of Frederick's steed and then commenced to shout out orders. "Frederick! Get me to Southtown as fast as you can. Preferably before our daring friend manages to throw himself to the wolves. Robin, Lissa! I want the both of you to catch up to us as soon as possible, but take special care not to exhaust yourselves!"

"What? No! C-Chrom, wait a min-" was all Lissa managed to say before Frederick spurred his destrier into a gallop which managed to take Chrom and him out of both their hearing ranges within the span of a few seconds. Lissa sighed at the males' departure before turning to face Robin. To Lissa's surprise, Robin appeared to be lost in thought.

Under normal circumstances, such a sight wouldn't had bothered Lissa in the least. Robin was **always** thinking about one thing or the other. To the point where it was practically expected of her to be too caught up in her contemplations to give reality so much as a passing glance. However, this was no normal circumstances.

Under a normal circumstance, Robin's daydreaming was accompanied by a facial expression which was as devoid of emotion as the deceased themselves. Or at least those amongst the dead who hadn't been corrupted into risen by the Fell Dragon, Grima. Yet at the moment, there was an out-of-place frown on Robin's beautiful face. Without a shadow of a doubt, Lissa knew that there was something **wrong **with her friend. And she intended on getting to the bottom of it.

"Hey Robin, you don't seem like your usual self. What gives? Is something the matter?" asked Lissa with the straightforwardness of a slighted bull. Lissa then begun to repeatedly tap a foot upon the ground as she waited for the zoned-out Robin to realize that she had just been spoken to. After about a minute, Lissa couldn't help but to smirk at the sight of Robin's pupils visibly dilating. A telltale sign of the fact that Robin was returning from the dark depths of that brilliant mind of hers.

"L-L-Lissa!" groggily stammered Robin upon her arrival to reality, earning herself a chuckle from Lissa as she did so. "I-I-I'm fine. Thank you for your concern,"

"Fat chance Robin," pouted Lissa as childishly as she could managed. Surprisingly, such childishness was beyond even the capacity of Nowi of all people! "You know as well as I do that I'm not going to let you off that easily. So, you might as well fess up! What's bugging you?"

"I'm sorry Lissa, but Chrom has given the both of us a direct order. We should really-"

"Oh that's perfectly fine. You'll just have to tell me on the way there. Such a feat shouldn't be too difficult for the tactician who defeated Mad King Gangrel himself," interrupted Lissa in a singsong tone of voice. Robin blinked a couple of times before slumping her shoulders and then sighing in defeat, indicating to Lissa that the battle had been won.

* * *

"_Yes, __yes,__yes! Come forth! Come to her, foreign one! Come to the Fell Dragon's most humble priestess. Come to Grima's Celibate!_" heard Aaron whilst he was sprinting along the cobblestone streets of Southtown in search of the brigands whom had apparently decided to set the town afire during the time it took for Aaron to arrive. Strangely enough, it was not from his surroundings that Aaron heard the sound. Rather, it was from the most abysmal depths of his consciousness. From the layer of thoughts where information was conveyed as sensations rather than words. From the boundary between the mind and the soul itself.

To say Aaron was disturbed by this, would have been the overstatement of the century. In truth, it wasn't even physically possible for Aaron to give any less of a damn about the voice that had decided to take residence within the confines of his head. Not because Aaron was some sort of a badass or anything Marty Stu-ish like that. Rather, it was because just about the entirety of Southtown was on freaking fire for Naga's sake! Though Aaron may not have been on fire himself, he was still burning like a dinner that the teenager "forgot" to take out of the oven. Believe it or not, convection is a bitch like that. Needless to say, the last thing on Aaron's mind was an inexplicable voice.

"Got me one!" suddenly heard Aaron. Before Aaron could so much as decide whether or not what he'd just heard had been of a physical or mental origin, an arrow embedded itself into the very center of his chest. Aaron couldn't help but to howl in agony while the force of the arrow's embedment roughly dropped him onto his back.

With several grunts of pain, Aaron rolled onto his side and then curled himself into the fetal position. As much as he was loath to do so, Aaron twitched for a few moments before abruptly becoming perfectly still. As he did so, Aaron internally prayed to God that his attacker simply assumed he was dead rather than put another arrow into his body for just-in-case purposes. It wasn't long before Aaron's ears were graced with the anticipated sound of footsteps accompanied by a heartless snicker.

"Thank you my LORD," prayed Aaron with a thought during the very moment that his attacker – an enemy unit of the archer class – begun to search him for valuables. Without so much as a semblance of a warning, Aaron sprung his trap. Like a snake striking from beneath a rock, Aaron's right arm rocketed towards the archer's throat.

The archer couldn't help but to wheeze as he suddenly found himself being choked by a man whom was supposed to have been dead from an arrow to the chest. To the archer's sheer horror, it wasn't long before he also found himself gurgling on his own blood as Aaron's fingers **slowly** begun to press their way **into** his throat. It was as if they were fangs...

"I'm guessing this would classify as a critical hit!" hissed a thoroughly pissed off Aaron as he plunged the blade of Chrom's iron sword into the very center of the archer's chest. After about a minute of gurgling and erratic convulsions, the archer's body became as still as a stone. Needless to say, the archer was dead. What does need to be said though, is that Aaron was not taking any chances. Preferring to learn from the mistakes of others just as much as he learned from his own, Aaron let go of the archer's neck and then quickly utilized the Spin Attack from the Legend of Zelda to decapitate the archer. Just in case.

"_Well done, Drake'Sire! Well done! Now, to claim your prize! Grima's Celibate awaits you my liege!_"

"What the hell was I thinking?" murmured Aaron to himself as a question towards the wisdom of charging into a real battle for no reason other than the fact that he had the opportunity to do so. Aaron shook his head at his own stupidity. He then extracted the arrow from his chest whilst he still had the adrenaline to do so.

Feeling empowered by the aforementioned adrenaline, Aaron decided that he should finish what he started. If not for the innocents he might save by doing so, then for his pride as a man who took his principles seriously. Unknowingly to Aaron, it was neither of those things that compelled him to move onward. But something far more sinister...

* * *

"I've never seen a man run so fast..." murmured Frederick more to himself than to Chrom as the both of them finished the journey to Southtown not long after Aaron's arrival. Immediately, Chrom hopped off of Frederick's steed and then withdrew the Falchion from its scabbard since his alternative sword was currently in the hands of Aaron.

"You'll be seeing one die just as quickly if we don't make it to him in time," said Chrom in response. Chrom then burst into a sprint along Southtown's stone roads. Frederick nodded in agreement with Chrom's response before he spurred his mount into taking after Chrom...


	2. The Southtown Trilogy - Part 2

"This is starting to get out of hand," murmured Aaron to himself as he hobbled towards a crossroad in Southtown's cobblestone streets, dragging "his" iron sword along the ground behind him as he did so. Much to Aaron's relief, the heat being radiated by the surrounding house fires was kind enough to sear his wound close. Though it may have done so in a painful manner, Aaron was still appreciative of its efforts due to the fact that he very much preferred momentary suffering over an eternity of death by hemorrhaging.

Or rather Aaron would have been appreciative of the heat's efforts, if those very efforts weren't currently threatening to sweat him into dehydration and or warm him into a heat stroke. While having those two distinct possibilities on his mind, Aaron couldn't help but to think of the heat as being less of a savior and more of a homicidal sadist whom was trying his damndest to subject Aaron to the most excruciating death it could muster.

"I'm sorry for breaking my "mysterious voice in your head" character here, but you're kind of forcing me to do so by going the wrong way!" heard Aaron just as he was reaching the crossroad. With a roll of his eyes, Aaron dismissed the sound as being naught but an overheating-induced hallucination. He then proceeded to take a right, catching sight of a barbarian woman whom was armed with a hammer as he did so. "H-h-hey! Don't you ignore me! You're not supposed to ignore me! No, you can't ignore me! It doesn't work that way! You're supposed to be genuinely interested in what I'm saying!"

"Whatever you say..." begun Aaron more to himself than to the voice he considered to be a hallucination as he took "his" iron sword into the both of his hands and then burst into a charge towards the barbarian, uttering a roar that was more than worthy of an entire war party of Vikings as he did so. Right after responding to Aaron's charge with a whoop of anticipation, the barbarian leapt into the air. To Aaron's great surprise, the barbarian's leap managed to take her high enough to cause the Sun to be completely eclipsed from Aaron's point-of-view. So great was Aaron's surprise, that it was only after the barbarian was halfway through the descent towards him that he came to the realization that he was being attacked.

"For Ylisse!" declared the barbarian just as she begun to bring her hammer down towards Aaron's skull at a timing that'll allow the hammer to make impact in perfect unison with his own descent towards Aaron. Unfortunately for the barbarian, Aaron managed to spring into a forward glide. As a result, the flat of the barbarian's hammer was slammed onto cobblestone rather than flesh and blood. With a boom that was loud enough to put even the most deafening of thunderclaps to shame, the hammer's impact upon the cobblestone left a crater that looked as if it had been formed by a sizable meteorite.

"D-did you just say for Ylisse?" asked Aaron as he landed in a knee and then took a prolonged look over his shoulder as a means of keeping his eyes on his apparent enemy. Subsequently, the barbarian woman performed an about-face as she hefted her hammer onto a comfortable position on her shoulder. She then graced Aaron with a toothy grin, causing his heart to skip a beat as she did so. "P-p-please don't tell me that you're..."

"...fighting in defense of the Town to the South?" finished the barbarian woman in Aaron's stead, prompting Aaron into dramatically uttering a groan of exasperation and then outright smashing the palm of his hand into the center of his face as loudly as he could manage without inflicting permanent harm upon himself. At the sight of Aaron's melodramatic behavior, the barbarian woman snickered a bit before flat-out exploding into full-blown laughter.

"My bad," apologized Aaron as humbly as his superfluous pride would allow. As he did so, Aaron wobbly stood to his feet before turning so that he was face-to-face with the barbarian woman.

At the sight of the barbarian woman's smiling visage, Aaron couldn't help but to cover his mouth and cheeks with his free hand as a means of preventing the barbarian woman from taking notice of the heat that was rising to his cheeks. Even after he realized that his dark complexion was more than capable of preventing such an observation, Aaron was unable to abstain from masking the lower portion of his face. "That assumption of mine could have easily came at the cost of one of our lives. And so I deeply sorry for making such a blunder. Please forgive-"

"There is no need for such apologies my friend!" boisterous laughed the barbarian woman only a moment before she abruptly pulled Aaron into a warm but tight hug, unintentionally smothering Aaron with a hefty pair of sizable "assets" as she did so. Even though Aaron could feel himself being drained of his remaining hit points as the barbarian woman gradually suffocated him with her embrace, he was still deriving more than his fair-share of enjoyment from the experience. Naught but an instant before the Grim Reaper could have harvested Aaron's soul from this mortal coil, the face of the dark-skinned myrmidon was liberated from the pleasurable death that lurked within the confines of the barbarian woman's bosom when the barbarian woman suddenly pulled away from him. With the palms of her hands resting upon her waist and a hearty laugh erupting from her throat, the barbarian woman paid no mind to Aaron as he dropped to his knees and then commenced the long struggle of making up for all of the breaths he'd missed out on. "Tis very often that Euphoria is mistaken for wrongdoer. She used to such persecution and is more than willing to for the give,"

"I...see," wheezed Aaron in-between a number of desperate gasps for air. Though he may have found Euphoria's use of third-person narration to be rather odd, Aaron didn't bother to ask Euphoria about it. As a matter of fact, Aaron didn't even so much us make plans to do so at a later date. For Euphoria's hug had left Aaron far too exhausted to think of anything other than breathing and the most simple of responses. Once Aaron had filled his lungs with a sufficient amount of oxygen, Aaron used "his" iron sword to help himself onto his feet and then presented to Euphoria a smile of his own. "Well Euphoria, my name is Aaron. It's an honor to meet you on this field of friendly fire,"

"Euphoria no believe that fire is any friend of ours," sighed Euphoria with her arms crossed out of disappointment and a crestfallen shake of her head. "Sad cause fire would make great ally at moment,"

"Without a-" was all Aaron managed to say before...

"Stop your chit-chatting! Save it for when you're finished with the slicing-and-dicing!" ...Aaron heard a thoroughly pissed off voice speak to him, once again from his interior rather than his exterior. Up to this point, Aaron had been under the impression that the voice was simply a hallucination. And he still was. Well, at least he still was untill...

"Is Euphoria the only one to hear strange voice in the head?" ...Euphoria's question made the actuality of the voice blatantly clear to him. For quite some time, Aaron did naught but stand in place as he thoroughly contemplated all of the implications of the voice's existence. It was only after Aaron had come to a particular realization that he finally proceeded to burst into action. With said realization being...

"...Someone is in trouble!" spluttered Aaron in a hurry as he took ahold of Euphoria's free hand and then begun to drag the barbaric woman behind him as he made his way along the path which the voice had been directing him to take all along. "Come on Euphoria. There might not be much time left, so we have to hurry!"

"Euphoria is under the stand! So no need to drag Euphoria like feathered quarry!" complained Euphoria as she was hauled along the cobblestone streets of Southtown and towards what appeared to be the very climax of the conflagration which was steadily consuming Southtown...

* * *

"Frederick!" desperately gasped an exhausted Chrom whilst he was seated upon cobblestone with his back against a wall of one of Southtown's many structures. Wearily sprawled alongside Chrom was Stigeweard, the mighty steed of Frederick the Wary himself. In stark contrast to the usual, Frederick wasn't currently mounted atop of Stigeweard's back. Instead the Great Knight was lying in-between Chrom's legs with his shoulders upon Chrom's thighs and his head upon Chrom's stomach. From the diminutive ahoge which was atop of his head to the very tips of his boots, Frederick's body was almost completely blanketed in a byzantium vapor. "Frederick! Are you alrighty? Frederick!"

"I'm quite fine my liege. Please do not concern yourself with my condition," weakly answered Frederick in an unconvincing whimper, eliciting a growl from Chrom as he did so. While taking care not to disturb Frederick's positioning too much, Chrom leaned to the side in order to take a look around the corner of the wall that he had his back against. Upon doing so, Chrom unintentionally locked eyes with the individual whom was responsible for felling Frederick off of Stigeweard.

Said individual wasn't a human as one might have expected. Nor was the individual one of the risen. Rather frighteningly, the individual was a dragon of all things. A dragon whose hardy scales only appeared to be equaled by the most solid of bedrock. A dragon whose claws were each composed of molecularly sharp obsidian. A dragon whose venomous breath was far more calamitous than the fiery exhalations of any Fire Dragon. Or in layman's terms, an Earth Dragon.


	3. The Southtown Trilogy - Part 3

"Friend Aaron, why is that you be inside of the hurry?" asked Euphoria while Aaron was hurriedly following the directions of the apparently not-so-internal voice. Much to Euphoria's displeasure, Aaron was far too caught up in the task at hand to pay her any mind. However, before Euphoria could so much as even consider voicing a complaint, Aaron suddenly accelerated enough to cause the both of Euphoria's feet to be completely lifted from the ground by the velocity alone. As a result, Euphoria's attitude quickly shifted from indignant displeasure to childish glee as Aaron pulled her through the air as if she were a human kite. "Wheeeeeeeee..."

"So..." begun Aaron as he quickly turned a corner by abruptly skidding to a stop and then explosively breaking into yet another sprint. Upon doing so, immediately found himself to be heading straight for a worst-case scenario. Some ways ahead of Aaron, stood a stallion worthy of a legend of its own. The volume of the stallion's every muscle was more than large enough to justify an accusation of steroid abuse. Thus it was no wonder that the stallion didn't at all seem to mind the fact that it was clad in enough armor to suit up an entire contingent of knights. To make matters worse, the stallion was currently being ridden by a giant of a man whom was armed with a freaking Luna of all things. With a despairing shake of his head, Aaron let out a what he believed was going to be his final battle cry as he accelerated from a sprint into an all-out charge towards the Great Knight. "...what was the deal with that whole Grima's Celibate thing?"

"Do you **REALLY** believe this is a good time for such a conversation?" snorted the voice only an instant before the Great Knight spurred his stallion into a brisk gallop. Every time one of the stallion's hooves met with the ground, each of Aaron's ears were met with a noise which was by far more deafening than even the loudest of thunder. And as the stallion's gallop brought the Great Knight ever closer to Aaron, Aaron couldn't help but to see the shadow of the Great Knight's Luna as the most menacing of scythes. Death's Scythe. It was as if the Grim Reaper himself was riding the stallion with the Great Knight as an ominous passenger. "I mean, you're about to clash with a Great Knight of all things! Considering the fact that you're just a lowly thief, don't you think you should be focusing on the upcoming battle?"

"Euphoria! Make sure to aim for the spearhead!" suddenly ordered Aaron as the distance between him and the Great Knight neared non-existence. It was then that Aaron, without any further warning, skidded into flinging Euphoria straight towards the helmet-cladded head of the Great Knight. In spite of the fact that Euphoria was clearly on a collision course with his head, the Great Knight didn't so much as reduce his speed much less come to a complete stop. Instead, the Great Knight simply spurred his Goliath amongst stallions into galloping FASTER. And as the Great Knight did so, he angled his Luna in preparation for skewering the hurtling Euphoria like the edible contents of a shish kebab.

"Euphoria would have been most appreciative if her pockets had been filled with much-needed warning," good-heartedly complained Euphoria as she effortlessly altered her wild hurtle into a controlled somersault. Soon after, Euphoria's somersault allowed her to bring the face of her hammer down towards the very tip of the Luna's spearhead. As Euphoria did so, the Great Knight thrust the Luna with enough vigor to make the entirety of the Luna blur into a deadly flash. And then there was a clash.

Pulverization vs Impalement. Face vs. Spearhead. Hammer vs. Luna. Barbarian vs. Great Knight. Euphoria vs. Zadoc. There could only be one winner. And so there was. In spite of the fact that Euphoria had the force of gravity on her side, it was Zadoc who won the day. Or at it least it would have been, if Euphoria hadn't just reaped a harvest from her obedience towards Aaron's instruction.

As the combination of Zadoc's strength of arm and the unparalleled momentum of his stallion overpowered the force of gravity itself, the spearhead of the Luna cleanly pierced into the face of the hammer. However, long before the spearhead could have managed to pierce through the hammer and then right into Euphoria's face, the weight of the hammer and Euphoria caused the shaft of the Luna to loudly snap in two. As a result, the perfectly unharmed Euphoria somersaulted into a landing right behind the stallion which seamlessly continued to carry the effectively unarmed Zadoc towards Aaron.

"Whoa! Halt! Stop you foolish beast!" commanded Zadoc of the stallion to absolutely no avail. Without giving Zadoc so much as a single time of the day, the stallion continued on its path. In response, Aaron shifted into wielding "his" iron sword with a back-handed grip before crouching as low the ground as he could manage. With a turn of his waist, Aaron reeled "his" iron sword as far as what was physically possible and then swung "his" iron sword into a long-lasting slash which sent the entirety of his body whirling towards the stallion. Naught but an instant before Aaron and the stallion clashed with each other, Aaron caught a glimpse of the stallion's eyes. And he saw. He saw that the stallion was simply being stubborn, but rather it was still being spurred on. Not by Zadoc, but rather by fear. A fear which had been brutally whipped into it at only Naga knows how early of an age. The stallion had been born and raised to charge. So charge it would.

"It's time to **TIP** the scales!" growled Aaron as his whirl was brought to a violent end by a collision between "his" iron sword and one of the knees of the stallion's forelegs. As to be expected, the collision completely shattered the iron sword into a myriad of pieces. However, in exchange, it tripped the stallion into being bloodily overturned right onto Zadoc's leg. Aaron's mouth sadistically spread into a toothy grin as Zadoc cried out in severe anguish. As Aaron languidly begun to stand straight, he cast aside the hilt of "his" broken sword only a few moments before Euphoria made her way to him. "How's the hammer?"

"The hammer is lost, but victory has been found in its place!" cheered Euphoria as she displayed to Aaron how the spearheaded end of the Luna was firmly lodged into the face of the hammer, thus mostly preventing the hammer from being used any further.

"Then our friend here lives to rot in prison for the rest of his days," snorted Aaron who was completely unsatisfied with the turn of events, but at the same time had absolutely no desire to execute a defenseless individual. As much as he loved the heart-pumping thrill that could only be delivered to him by good, old-fashioned violence; he wasn't a cold-blooded murderer. Deriving enjoyment from fighting wasn't the same as taking a liking to killing people. The basis of one was simply taking a love for competition to its logical extremes, while the foundation of the other was relishing in the ultimate form of destruction. The destruction of life itself. "**NOW** would you mind explaining the Grima's Celibate thing to me?"

"T-t-there's no time!" fearfully stammered the voice, alarming Aaron as it did so. Immediately; Aaron returned to following the directions which the voice had given him, utilziing a wave of his hand to gesture Euphoria into following after him as he did so. "R-R-Robin nears. And with her, my death! Y-y-you must hurry. I beg of you...please make it here before she does! **PLEASE**!"

"Why does a throatless echo let a tiny bird fill her with the afraid?" asked Euphoria with an inquisitive rub of her chin.

"I'm pretty sure it's the person she fears rather than the bird," answered Aaron in a snicker. As he did so, Aaron turned a corner and as a result came face-to-face with a familiar trio. Chrom, Frederick, and Stigeweard. At the sight of a distressed-looking Chrom cradling a clearly incapacitated Frederick, Aaron couldn't help but to give pause. "What in the world..."

"Hold friends," flat-out ordered Chrom, promptly causing Euphoria to stand at military attention. "Beyond us lies-"

"Me!" frantically shouted the voice, interrupting Chrom as it did so. Much to Aaron's surprise, Chrom's eyes dilated from the shock of the voice's appearance. The reason for Aaron's surprise was that Chrom's shock meant that Chrom could hear the voice as well. A fact that Aaron found to be weird, for he didn't understand how so many people could a hear voice originating from his head... "Beyond these three, I'm on a rampage! Please, you have to stop me before Robin puts me down!"

"A rampage?" questioned Aaron as he curiously walked around the corner, completely ignoring Chrom's constant demands for him to not do such a thing. Not long after Aaron did so, he retreated right back to the apparent safety of the corner. Immediately following Aaron's retreat, a billow of byzantium vapor surged past the corner and into a structure with enough force to cause the entirety of the structure to explode into debris. Aaron hurriedly gasped for as much air as he could inhale while he was contemplating how close he'd been to a Game Over. "W-w-**was that a freaking dragon**?!"

"An **Earth Dragon** to be precise," informatively coughed Frederick.

"No! It was me!" corrected the voice.

"Where, exactly, are you speaking from?" inquired Chrom, tilting his head in a manner that was reminiscent of a bewildered puppy as he did so.

"You're an Earth Dragon?!" gasped Aaron in surprise.

"No! Well, yes!" indecisively replied the voice. "But not at first I wasn't!"

"No. Seriously. Where are you?" pouted Chrom, peeved at having had his inquiry completely ignored.

"Perhaps manakete?" proposed Euphoria.

"Possibly. I've heard tale that the Earth Dragons lost control of themselves long ago, becoming nothing more than wild animals as a result of doing so. Perhaps the enemy before us a manakete whom took the form of an Earth Dragon and as a result lost all forms of self-control?" inputted Frederick.

"I'm not the enemy!" insisted the voice in a growl. "I'm **OBVIOUSLY** the **VICTIM** here you morons! And you should be trying to HELP me right now, rather than debate my origins!"

"Would somebody **PLEASE** tell me where this voice is coming from?!" wailed Chrom. If there had been a table nearby, Chrom probably would have flipped it in rage. It's a shame that there wasn't. Thus Chrom was, once again, ignored.

"How the hell are we supposed to help you anyway? DON'T tell me you want us to try to defeat you or anything suicidal like that!" asked Aaron, shivering at the very idea of confronting a Earth Dragon in battle as he did so.

"You need to touch the Earthstone embedded within my chest! If you can get your hands on it, the resultant magical flux should nullify my transformation!" explained the voice.

"Well Euphoria, from atop of Frederick's horse you MIGHT be able to get close enough to-"

"Oh, and I forgot to mentioned that it has to be you Aaron. Well; you, Nowi, Tiki, or Nah. But considering how the other three possibilities aren't present at the moment..." added the voice.

"Naga's Breath!" loudly cursed Aaron; earning himself a sweatdrop from Chrom, Frederick, Euphoria, and even Stigeweard. "I REALLY think we should wait for Ro-"

"**DO IT NOW**!" demanded the voice, causing Aaron to cringe in fear as it did so. With a sigh which was filled to the brim with regrets, Aaron made his way back around the corner...


	4. This is Not a Game - Part 1

"Chrom, we have to do something!"

"What do you propose we do?"

"I-I don't-"

"No!" shouted Aaron from the top of his lungs. As he did so, Aaron tossed aside a sheet which had been spread over him and then sat up in a cot of sorts. Just as Aaron expected, standing over him were none other than Chrom and Lissa. And needless to say, the Prince and Princess were were currently laughing their heads off at his expense. "None of that. SHAME on you,"

"Agreed," disdainfully snorted Robin at Chrom and Lissa's antics. Not long after she did so, the tactician sauntered into Aaron's sight with her arms folded atop of each other. This time around, Robin seemed less disturbed and more annoyed. A fact which brought Aaron a small measure of comfort, for he took it as a sign that his presence wasn't a bother to Robin anymore. "I believe that is more than enough reenactments for one day,"

"Indeed. The two of you have exceeded your quota," added Aaron in a smug sort of way. Only an instant before the entirty of his body begun to be racked with the very pain that his adrenaline rush had been sparing him from. "And it seems I've exceeded my pain threshold,"

"To be honest with you, I'm quite impressed," admitted Frederick from beyond Aaron's sights. If Aaron's hearing was as good as he thought it was, then Frederick was only a short distance behind him. However, before Aaron could make so much as a single spot check, he abruptly and unceremoniously crumpled into a bloody heap on the sheet-covered surface of the cot. "Considering how grave your wounds are, I really wasn't expecting you to be able to manage even something as trivial as chit-chat. It appears that I've underestimated you,"

"His wounds have opened back up!" shrieked a surprised Lissa. The Ylissean princess then wasted no further time in bringing a Mend staff to bear on Aaron. "So much blood. It's soaking through! After I've stopped the bleeding, he's going to need some new bandages,"

"Roger that!" exclaimed Chrom before he hurried off to procure the necessary bandages.

"Why do I feel as if I've just gotten out of yet another surgery?" groaned Aaron while he was basking in the curative light of the Mend staff. "And why is it that I'm hurting everywhere but the place where that dad-blasted arrow pierced me?"

"The wound you received from that arrow should be the least of your worries!" suddenly barked Frederick in a harsh tone of voice. Immediately after Frederick had spoken, Lissa directed an expression of alarm towards him. Unfortunately for Lissa, her efforts only served to motivate the Great Knight to continue on. "My lady, it'd be far better to tell him sooner rather than later. Lest he accuse us of denying him of his right to know,"

"Maybe so Frederick, but-" mumbled Lissa with a pout. It was at this time that Lissa finished mending Aaron's wounds close and Chrom returned with bandages in hand.

"But nothing Liz," interrupted Chrom before he roughly handed all of the bandages over to Lissa, unintentionally causing Lissa to fall flat onto her butt. "Frederick is right. He deserves to know as soon as possible,"

"Chrom! You jerkface!" spat an irate Lissa. Chrom rolled his eyes at Lissa before he adopted his trademark scowl.

"Listen-" started Chrom...

"Allow me to hazard a guess," ...only to be rudely interrupted by Aaron before he could finish. Chrom couldn't help but to winced at the interruption, for by this point in time he was under the under the suspicion that interrupting him mid-sentence was becoming something of a running gag. Just as Chrom was about to voice a complaint. But the Lord was prevented from doing so when Aaron suddenly let out a deep sigh alongside couple of somber shakes of his head. "I mean, by this point it's pointedly obvious. I don't think any of our readers are going to be surprised..."

"If you must," heavily sighed Chrom. Due to the fact that he found himself unable to make any sense of it, Chrom chose to simply ignore the part about you readers. "So, what do you propose has happened?"

"Considering the fact that I've awakened without any memories of a victory but with a lot of wounds to suggest a defeat, I'd have to say that I was curbstomped by that Earth Dragon only a few moments before Robin came along and saved the day. I mean there is absolutely no way in the Future Past that I was quick enough to dodge what a horse such as Frederick's wasn't," answered Aaron with evasive eyes. Judging from Aaron's unwillingness to look him in the eyes, Chrom could tell that Aaron's composure was naught but a front meant to conceal his embarrassment. Such distant behavior made Chrom more than just a little apprehensive. For experience told Chrom that it was ALWAYS the distant ones whom tended to have the most prolonged breakdowns of them all... "Hey...where's Euphoria?"

"If you mean the woman who had been accompanying you..." begun Chrom with a gulp. Right after he did so, Chrom immediately took the time to inhale a vast amount of air as a means of bracing himself. "...then I very much regret to inform you that she was killed during the struggle to drive back the Earth Dragon. Tis a real pity that we failed to either revert or slay the beast. But that's how it is..."

Silence. Pure, unadulterated silence. That is all that followed Chrom's answer for what felt like an eternity. At first, Aaron's face remained in the same expression as before. But after some time, Aaron's face begun to gradually warp into a different expression. Not an expression of grief as one might have expected. But rather an expression of disbelief. Complete and utter disbelief. In spite of himself, Chrom couldn't help but to be unnerved by the lack of faith that was evident on Aaron's face. Had he said it in an unbelievable manner or something? The Lord wasn't unbelievable sure if that was the case or not...

"Tha-tha-that's impossible," stammered Aaron with an unfaithful shake of his head. Though Aaron's facial expression may have been devoid of anything but disbelief, his eyes were practically glowing with sorrow. In spite of the fact that Aaron wasn't shedding so much as a single tear, his eyes were betraying an internal turmoil to everyone present. "There's no way that can be true. It's just not possible..."

"Aaron..." cooed Lissa as she attempted to connect with the thief before her. "...I know it seems unreal. Trust me when I say that I KNOW. Cause I've been through what you're going through. And I felt as if it were a waking nightmare as well. But denying the truth didn't do anything for me. And I don't believe it's going to do anything for you either. So please-"

"I'm not saying that it isn't true!" abruptly snapped Aaron at his feet more than the Ylissean princess whom was trying so hard to comfort him. "What would have been the point? What would have been the point of such a lie? Chrom wouldn't lie about such a thing,"

"I-I-I don't understand..." murmured a thoroughly confused Lissa. "...if you're not saying that it isn't true. Than what are you saying, Aaron?"

"I'm saying exactly what I've said!" vehemently screamed Aaron as he threw the both of his arms into the air out of sheer frustration. "It's impossible! Completely. And utterly. Impossible!"

"We're not following you Aaron," murmured Chrom who wasn't sure if the current situation was better or worse than he thought it'd be. As a matter of fact, he wasn't sure about anything about the current situation. Aaron was making just as little sense to him as he claimed the death of Euphoria to be. "Care to explain?"

"I! AM! ALIVE!" exclaimed Aaron with his hand situated upon his chest as a gesture towards his living status. "With that in mind, how is that Euphoria could be dead? I'm just a thief! A thief of all things! And most likely one with a pretty low Level at that. On the other hand, Euphoria was a freaking barbarian! And a really strong one at that! She snapped a Luna in half is if were naught but a twig! Sure barbarians such as her don't have the most spectacular of Defense stats. But a thief's Defense isn't any better!"

"My lord..." begun Frederick as he tactically positioned himself in-between Aaron and the Ylissean royalty. "...I believe Aaron's gone mad. I recommend that this situation be handle with the utmost caution,"

"You can see..." whispered Robin to herself in response to Aaron's rant. Fortunately for Aaron, Robin inadvertently did so at a volume that was just loud enough for everyone else to hear with a bit of clarity. "...you can see as I do! Aaron...could you be-"

"See?" questioned Lissa who was now more confused than ever before. "See what?"

"Robin..." whimpered Aaron in a manner that was akin to begging. "...you're a smart one. So tell me Robin. How could this be? I was already injured. I don't remember being healed in any form or fashion. And I find it unlikely that I have a sizable Health stat. Especially since I normally chose Health as my weakness. So how could this have happened? Euphoria was never harmed. She was PERFECTLY fine. How could a powerful woman who was in her prime be dead when a fragile man who was in a weakened state still yet lives? It makes NO since. NONE whatsoever!"

"Please tell me that you're not actually COMPLAINING about the very same illogicality that has given you this chance to complain in the first place?" pled Frederick as a droplet of sweat descended from the top of his head.

"Aaron..." murmured Chrom. A Chrom who finally understood. A Chrom who could relate...

"Logically speaking, I should be dead!" firmly asserted Aaron with a shake of his head.

"...Aaron. Please..."

"And Euphoria should be alive!"

"...Aaron. Listen to me..."

"Th-this is wrong! This is all so wrong. It makes no-"

"...listen to me damn it!" demanded Chrom with the authority of the prince he was. Just as Chrom demanded, Aaron grew silent in order to listen to what Chrom had to say. "Yeah. You're right. You're absolutely right. It makes no since. But you know what? That's a fact of life. Sometimes, things just don't make any since. Sometimes, there are unexpected results. Sometimes, you can be in a position to succeed only to fail. Sometimes, you can be in a position to fail only to succeed. And sometimes, You can be ready to rise...only to fall. Hard. To the ground. Dead,"

"C-C-Chrom," snuffled Lissa an instant before she burst into tears. As Lissa cried her heart out, Robin and Frederick couldn't help but to mournfully shift their gazes straight to the ground.

"Chrom," gasped Aaron who was caught off his guard by the length Chrom had dared to go to. "Why..."

"But that's okay Aaron," continued Chrom as unhesitantly as he ever was. "It's okay for you to not understand. You don't need to fret over such ignorance. There is nothing to be corrected. Some things are simply beyond human comprehension. Some things are simply beyond ANY comprehension. I'm willing to bet the halidom itself that even Naga is confused by this occurrence,"

"My Lord, I wouldn't even JEST about such a gamble!"

"But my point is..." persisted Chrom. Paying Frederick no heed as he did so. "...it's okay for you to feel as if you're in the dark. Cause even if the blackness is thick enough to keep you from telling your right from your left, as long as we're here to support you, you'll find your way out of the abyss! So...just let it go,"

"You know Aaron, Chrom is right!" jubilantly added Lissa with her usual smile. "All of this ana-whatever is a complete waste of time! There isn't some important detail that could have changed the way things turned out. And there isn't some crucial mistake that you could have avoid making. You're trying to pick an apple from a barren tree. There is no cause to be found. It simply happened. Just because,"

"Considering how little we had at our disposal at the time, I assure you that no manner of approach would have changed the outcome of our confrontation with the Earth Dragon. Believe me when I say that your incessant contemplations are all for naught. Without a shadow of a doubt, there is nothing that can be discovered through such examinations. I suggest that you cease and desist at once," stated Frederick in an informative tone of voice.

"And don't you get any ideas about you having no business being there either!" commanded Robin with a mirthful smirk on her face. "Cause even your reckless charge into the fray was more of a boon to us than a bane. If you had stuck with the rest of us, there is a good chance that we would never have joined forces with Euphoria in the first place. And that woman was instrumental in beating the Earth Dragon back into a retreat towards the wilderness. Without her help, it's more than just a little bit possible that the Earth Dragon would have defeated us all and then razed Southtown to the ground! So, chin up! You've done well!"

"Could you have done better than what you've done today? Maybe. Maybe not. But right now, it doesn't matter whether you could or couldn't. At the moment, there is an Earth Dragon on the loose and a friend whose death is in need of some avengement. So, with that in mind, what are you going to do? Fight? Flight? Which one shall it be," concluded Chrom with his concluded scowl.

"Compassionate fools! Making pointless excuses for a failure such as myself..." sniffled Aaron. Wwho was dangerously close to crying as badly as Lissa had. "You're such bleeding-hearts. So much so, that you've gone and soaked me sanguine! If I don't wash up soon, I think I'm going to contract your lovesickness. But before I hit the showers, I need to finish what I've bloody-well started!"

"Good man," chuckled Chrom in approval.

"What are we waiting for then?!" asked a hyped Lissa.

"Indeed. Hesitation spawns death," humorously begun Frederick in a chuckle. "Either your own or another's!"

"So let us be off!" continued Robin with a wink.

"Wish me luck," Aaron started to finish. With tears streaming from his eyes. "My sheep-tending compatriots!"


	5. This is Not a Game - Part 2

"Why?" murmured a thoroughly frustrated Aaron to himself as he trekked behind a Frederick-totting Stigeweard. Though Frederick himself may have been none the wiser to Aaron's murmurings, Stigeweard couldn't help but to hear them loud and clear. Stigeweard inquisitively raised an eyebrow as a sign of its piqued curiosity. And then, with a "Why not?"-sort of roll of its eyes, the mighty steed proceeded to eavesdrop on the rest of Aaron's murmurings. "Why can't I remember anything? Could it be amnesia? No. Couldn't be. Too coincidental. Way too coincidental. I've only forgotten the details of the battle. JUST the battle. That's far too exact to have been caused by JUST amnesia. I haven't forgotten. I've been made to forget. But by-"

"Oh brother," thought Stigeweard to itself as it listened to Aaron prattle on. To Stigeweard, the boy was clearly traumatized on some level or another if he believed that some random conspiracy theory of his was more plausible than brain trauma-induced amnesia. Then again, maybe it was the brain trauma that was making him say such stupid things to himself. If that was the case... "Here goes nothing then!"

"Ooph!" abruptly gasped Aaron as Stigeweard kicked him right in the dead center of his chest, knocking all of the wind out of him as he did so. With an expression of pure bewilderment on his face, Frederick looked over his shoulder and at Aaron whom had been sent sprawling across the ground by Stigeweard's kick. "By Gaius's love for sugar! Why in Naga's name has the beast done this to me? Ugh! I hope it goes to donate blood one day and finds Henry to be the extractor!"

"Never before have I seen my dear Stigeweard lash out at anyone in such a manner," said Frederick more to himself than to Aaron as he pointlessly worked to soothe a perfectly calm Stigeweard. "This is unprecedented. What did you do to him?"

"I'll tell you what I'm GOING to do to him," groaned Aaron as he struggled to use his new iron sword to help him stand to his feet. "When it grows old and lame, I'mma let freaking Walhart decide his ultimate fate. See how that turns out for it! Bloody mare..."

"I pray to Naga for a day you speak of things that don't confuse me," sighed Frederick with more than just a few shakes of his head. "Can you stand? Or do I need to give you a lift on Stigeweard?"

"I'm fine!" wheezed Aaron as he fell back into trekking behind Stigeweard, albeit at a slower pace so that the distance between them was too great of a range for Stigeweard to kick him from. "Perfectly fine. Nice and dandy,"

"You are aware of the fact that This is Not a Game, right?" asked Frederick of Aaron, only earning himself a snicker from Aaron as he did so. "I'm serious Aaron. You and I are marching towards a monstrosity of even greater horror than the Risen themselves. And we do so alone. Not only that, but our duty is not simply to observe. But rather we have been entrusted with the task of waylaying the creature from bringing about any further destruction until the arrival of our reinforcements. Such a task will not be easily accomplished. Thus it is imperative that we conserve as much of our strength as we can. So if you need to ride atop of Stigeweard in order to fully recover, I HIGHLY suggest that you do so. No. I DEMAND that you do so,"

"Are you being wary of my pride?" sighed Aaron in a pathetic attempt to change the subject. Aaron REALLY didn't like to accept help from others. Especially if said other had just finished KICKING him not that long ago. While it was true that he definitely needed some time to catch his breath, it was equally true that he was completely unwilling to take any of that time for himself if it meant he'd have to make himself indebted to Frederick and Stigeweard in the process of doing so. "Frederick the Wary is truly a fitting-"

"I guess this is good of a place to stop as any," suddenly noted Frederick, much to Aaron's surprise. "You seem to be lacking in camping experience, so I'll only burden you with the task of collecting the firewood. The rest, I'll handle my-"

"Wait!" demanded a confused Aaron with some frantic waves of his arms. "Wait just a minute! Stop? What are you talking about? It's still quite bright out! Why are we stopping?"

"Isnt it obvious?" snorted Frederick as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Because it was the most obvious thing in the world. Aaron that is. And his condition. "It's becuase you're encumbered. I would have to be deaf to not hear the pain in your breathing,"

"Don't worry about me Frederick. It's not that big-"

"We can not continue until you are well. It would not be prudent of us to confront the Earth Dragon with anything less than our full capabilities," stated Frederick, making it clear with his tone of voice alone that the subject wasn't up for debate. An ultimatum had been issued. One that Aaron didn't need to be explained to him.

"Fine. Just fine. I'm sorry, alright? I'll ride the horse," said Aaron in acquiescence to Frederick, eliciting a gentle smile from Frederick as he did so.

"Most excellent," chuckled Frederick as he patted behind him, inciting from Stigeweard a neigh that was SUSPICIOUSLY reminiscent of a snort. With a bit of grumbling about coercion and more than just a bit of glowering aimed towards Stigeweard, Aaron fearfully climbed atop of Stigeweard. It was only after Aaron was seated behind Frederick that he sighed in relief, for he had fully expected Stigeweard to kick him again. "Let us be off then,"

"Yeah. Let's," agreed Aaron as Stigeweard started to tote Frederick and him through the forest. For the rest of the day, Stigeweard continued to do just that while Frederick and Aaron devised and then fine-tuned a plan to immobilize the Earth Dragon. By dusk, Frederick and Aaron had managed to scheme up a plot that was ingenious enough to make the both of them consider the possibility of defeating the Earth Dragon themselves. Just as Frederick declared that it was time for the two of them to make a camp for the night, Aaron caught sight of something unusual. Through some of the local foliage, Aaron could see a light. A red light to be specific. Even though he had a feeling that the red light was simply a hallucination on his part, Aaron decided to Frederick bring it up with Frederick. Just in case. "Frederick. Do you happen to see a red light over the yonder?"

"Hmm?" hummed an interested Frederick as he turned his head to lookin in the direct that Aaron was using his own head to gesture towards. As soon as he finished doing so, Frederick nodded as confirmation of the light's existence. "Indeed I do. I wander what the source of such a light could be..."

"A red light in the middle of nowhere..." snarled a suspicious Aaron as he slid off of Stigeweard and then withdrew his iron sword from its scabbard, alarming Frederick as he did so. "...I can think of only one reason why such a light would be present in this kind of place!"

"And what would that reason be?" warily asked Frederick, unlatching a Silver Lance from his back as he did so.

"Prostitution," bluntly answered Aaron as he begun to use his iron sword to start clearing a way towards the red light for Stigeweard. Frederick couldn't help but to be somewhat flabbergasted by Aaron's answer, for it had not been ANYTHING like what Frederick had been expecting to hear. The possibilities on Frederick's mind had been bandits or risen. Not prostitutes. Because of his upbringing as a model knight, Frederick wasn't in possession of the street smarts needed to come to that kind of conclusion. The very concept of a red-light district (DON'T look it up) was absolutely foreign to the Great Knight. "And mind you, I'm NOT referring to the consensual kind of prostitution. I'm talking about that human trafficking kind of prostitution. Seuxal slavery. The works. I mean, it;s not like there is any other reason for there to be a red-lighted outpost this far from civilization. Or at the very least, there isn't any other reason that I can think of at the moment,"

"If I give you a few moments, do you think you could think of another reason?" desperately asked Frederick of Aaron. While the Great Knight was doing so, he was also struggling to avoid vomiting from the mere implications of Aaron's answer. "Naga, please forgive me for my indecisiveness. For now I can't help but to pray for the return of my inability to understand the words coming from this man's mouth!"

"Pshaw," snorted Aaron at Frederick's displayal of horror. The vast amount of sheer depravity that Aaron had been exposed to as a result of reading seinen such as Berserk and Gantz had long since desensitized Aaron to such perversity. Though by no means was Aaron looking forward to beholding such perversity in person; however, Aaron was definitely looking forward to massacring the perpetrators. So much so, that he was vividly fantasizing using the leader to reenact Kirito's execution of Oberon within ALfheim Online.

While Aaron's mind was occupied with sadistic thoughts of that nature, the greenhorn of a thief finished hacking Stigeweard and him a path to a perfectly circular clearing in the forest. In the very middle of the glade, was a two-story cabin. Comfortably seated in a pair of rocking chairs which were situated upon the porch of the cabin were a pair of women. Somehow, someway; Aaron could literally see that one of the women was a myrmidon while the other was an archer. With a squint, Aaron could further discern that the myrmidon was armed a Killing Edge of all things while the archer was equipped with a Longbow. It wasn't that Aaron was able to recognize the anything about the women or their equipment. It wasn't anything sensible like that. But rather, it was that Aaron's eyes were providing him with more than just vision. With his eyes, Aaron was able to perceive the world with more than just sight. To put it simply Aaron was blessed with a sixth sense of some sort. An extrasensory perception for war!

"The one on the left is a myrmidon wielding a Killing Edge. The one on the right is an archer wielding a Longbow. The myrmidon could make short work of me, but stands no chance against a Great Knight such as yourself. On the other hand, the archer is pretty much assured to feather you while there is a small possibility that I could avoid an arrow from her. So the best way to preserve our strength for the Earth Dragon is to allow me to draw attention away from you. Once the archer looses an arrow towards me, you'll charge the myrmidon while the archer knocks her next arrow. As you charge the myrmidon, I'll charge the archer in order to keep her attention on me. The success of this tactic rests upon the shoulders of Stigeweard and myself. If Stigeweard doesn't get you to the myrmidon before the myrmidon gets to me or if I fail to draw the archer's attention away from you, we will not be making it through this without injury. And there is the very real possibility that I will not be making it through at all," murmured Aaron more to himself than to Frederick. Frederick couldn't help but to gasp at the terminology that Aaron had made use of, for the Great Knight had heard it all before from Robin herself. With a shake of his head, the Great Knight resolved to confront Aaron about the similarities between Robin and him. Similarities that were way too numerous for Frederick the Wary to denounce as merely being a coincidence.

"They have taken notice of us. It's best you commence your plan as soon as possible," said Frederick to Aaron, greatly surprising the fledgling of a thief as he did so. Stigeweard snorted at Aaron's surprise, frightening Aaron into getting a move on as a direct result of doing so. As the myrmidon and archer stood up from their rocking chairs, Aaron sheathed his iron sword within its scabbard and then confidently strolled towards the cabin's porch.

"How about we not waste each other's time with the mincing of words, eh?" heartily laughed Aaron as he stopped some ways from the porch. As soon as Aaron had come to a stop, the myrmidon walked down the steps of the porch with her hand upon the pommel of her Killing Edge. After the myrmidon took her final step off of the porch, she came to a stop herself and then warily faced towards Aaron. "Exactly how much will it be to have a go at the two of you for an hour?"

"Son of a-" begun the archer as she furiously knocked an arrow onto the bowstring of her Longbow and then wasted no time in taking aim straight for Aaron's groin. Right before the archer could finish her swear or let loose on Aaron, the myrmidon gestured for the archer to hold her fire. With a grunt of displeasure, the archer lowered her longbow but continued to keep the arrow knocked onto its bowstring.

"Unfortunately, neither of us are on the menu here. Though we may look the part, we're not the Valmese damsels you've been looking forward to. Those beautiful gals are just inside and they're eagerly awaiting your patronage," seductively cooed the myrmidon in a rather alluring tone of voice. Aaron probably would have been turned on if he wasn't so appalled by the myrmidon's use of the word menu in this context. "Of course, for this all-you-can-eat buffet of foreign maidens, there is a small fee of a 2500 gold to be paid."

"Is that so?" responded Aaron while one of his eyes was visibly twitching from the rage he was very much struggling to keep in check. "And they say crime doesn't pay,"

"They have said wrong then," chuckled the myrmidon as she dramatically threw her head back in order to get some of the strands of her lengthy hair off of her face. "Cause none of the things I've done before taking this job have payed anywhere near as much,"

"Bzzt!" loudly uttered Aaron not long before he burst into an obnoxious laughter, unnerving the myrmidon and the archer as he did so. Just as suddenly as he had begun, Aaron stopped laughing in order to direct a glare at the myrmidon and the myrmidon alone. If looks could kill, Aaron's glare would have been capable of massacring the hell out of the entirety of the Valmese Empire's army. "Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong! You're wrong! Dead wrong! Literally dead in just a few minutes. Crime doesn't pay! Because for every crime you commit, you accrue a debt. A debt that I have come to collect! Oh yes! You can be damn sure that I'm going to make you pay for all of the shit you've put the girls here through!"

"It seems that we've been had," snarled the myrmidon an instant before she gestured for the archer to put Aaron down. With a childish glee, the archer returned to taking aim at Aaron's groin. And just as the archer loosed her arrow, Aaron's facial expression was hardened by a grim determination to kill...


	6. This is Not a Game - Part 3

"It would appear that we have been had," snarled the myrmidon an instant before she gestured for the archer to put Aaron down. With a toothy grin which exhibited her mouthful of sizable fangs, the archer loosed an arrow towards Aaron's groin of all places. In stark contrast to the archer's expectations, Aaron was lucky enough to have the Random Number Goddess pull him into a cartwheel which allowed him to narrowly dodge the arrow by less than a millimeter.

As soon as the Random Number Goddess finished pulling him out of harm's way, Aaron landed into a short-lived skid and then burst into a sprint towards the porch that the archer was situated upon rather than the stairs of the porch. With a grunt, Aaron ended his sprint with a leap that allowed him to take a firm hold of the porch's wooden railing and then flipped himself over the railings. As he landed into a crouch on the porch, Aaron found himself face-to-face with the archer whom had already managed to knock a second arrow.

Silently and without fanfare, the archer loosed her second arrow towards Aaron. While the arrow was en route towards Aaron's heart, Aaron withdrew his iron sword from its scabbard in a manner which allowed him to seamlessly transition from a withdrawal into a swing. Through the use of the aforementioned swing, Aaron intercepted the arrow with his iron sword and thereby deflected the iron arrow toward only Naga knows where. Subsequently, Aaron used a lunge to instantly close the distance between the archer and him. In conjunction with his lunge, Aaron thrust his iron sword towards the archer's chest.

Much to Aaron's consternation, the archer managed to parry his thrust by using her iron blow as a makeshift club. Before Aaron managed to recover from his failed attempt to stab the archer, the archer stepped into a powerful swing of her iron blow. Thanks to the power of the archer's motherly hips, the iron bow struck Aaron's face with enough force to send Aaron whirling like a spinning top. With a roar, Aaron impaled the blade of his iron sword into the wooden floor of the porch as a means of bringing his whirl to an abrupt end. However, by the time Aaron managed to do so, the archer had a third arrow knocked on the strings of her bow. Consequently, the archer managed to feather Aaron in his right shoulder and thus became the first to draw blood!

* * *

"So much for conserving their health," neighed Stigeweard an instant before Frederick spurred him into a gallop towards the myrmidon. With each stride that Stigeweard took, the Earth shook as if it was being subjected to the shockwaves of an earthquake. Contrary to Frederick and the myrmidon's assumptions, the Earth wasn't shaking from the sheer force behind Stigeweard's gallop. As a matter of fact, the Earth was shaking at all. Instead, the Earth was trembling. Trembling with fear! Unlike the ignorant mortal that Stigeweard deign to carry on his back, the Earth was god-fearing individual. Thus, the Earth knew better than to not show an appropriate quantity of fear when it was in the presence of mighty Stigeweard!

Or, at the very least, that's how _Stigeweard_ saw it. In actuality, the so-called 'shaking of the Earth' was nothing more than the pitter-patter of Stigeweard's footsteps.

"You approach Ya'yoi of Chon'sin, the Siren of the West" exclaimed the myrmidon as Stigeweard closed the distance between Frederick and her. While Stigeweard may have neighed a dismissive harumph at Ya'yoi's introduction, Frederick one-upped Stigeweard by not even bothering to grace Ya'yoi's introduction with a response. Instead of introducing himself in turn or offering any other kind of retort, Frederick silently raised his Silver Lance overheard as Stigeweard drew him nearer and nearer to Ya'yoi. Needless to say, Yayoi was not amused by Frederick's stoicism. Not at all.

* * *

"So much for preserving my health," thought Aaron as the pain in his right shoulder forced him to take the handle of his iron sword into his left hand rather than his right hand. As Aaron withdrew the blade of his iron sword from the porch's floor, the archer knocked a fourth arrow and then aimed her fourth arrow at the dead center of Aaron's chest. After two taps of his right foot, Aaron used a third tap to burst into a sprint towards the archer. Needless to say, the archer's response to Aaron's sprint was to loose her fourth arrow. As if he was a running back and the arrow was a player on the defense, Aaron spun into both a juke around the arrow and a whirl with a velocity that prevented him from being seen as anything other than a tornado-esque blur.

In response to Aaron's unorthodox approach, the archer leapt into the air above Aaron and then allowed herself to fall at an angle which brought her iron bow down like a hammer. As the both of them shouted a battle cry at one another, Aaron's whirl spun him into swinging his iron sword at the archer's iron bow and the archer's descent dropped the archer into bringing her iron bow down upon Aaron's iron sword. As soon as the iron bow and the iron sword impacted against one another, the iron bow was severed into halves while the iron sword was broken into halves. Subsequently, Aaron whirled into a skid along the porch as the archer landed into a roll along the porch. As soon as Aaron came to a halt on a knee and the archer came to a halt on all-fours, Aaron and the archer about-faced towards one another and then lunged at one another.

* * *

"I wonder if you're going to be this silent after I've knocked you off your high horse! Will you continue to keep your mouth closed, or will you open your mouth to beg for life?" laughed Ya'yoi as she lunged out of Stigeweard's path. While Ya'yoi was still in the middle of her lunge, Frederick attempted to impale Ya'yoi with his Silver Lance. Unfortunately for Frederick, Ya'yoi managed to use a thrust of her hips to perform a midair spin which allowed her to avoid impalement. Immediately afterward, before Frederick managed to spur Stigeweard into an about face, Ya'yoi landed on all-fours and then sprung towards Frederick's back with her arms outstretched into a thrust of her Killing Edge.

Unfortunately for Ya'yoi, the blade of her Killing Edge ricochet off the back of Frederick's armor as if it was a tennis ball rather than a super deadly weapon. Consequently, Ya'you was sent hurtling away from Frederick. By the time Ya'yoi's feet was touching upon the ground, Stigeweard had managed to about-face into a pounce upon Ya'yoi. Because the sheer immensity of their combined size, Frederick and Stigeweard were more than large enough to eclipse Ya'yoi's view of the sun. As a result, the last thing Ya'yoi saw was an ironclad horror which was highlighted by an immaculately white corona.

* * *

"You're surprisingly competent for a bleeding-heart Ylissean!" heartily laughed the archer as Aaron and her neared one another. With yet another battle cry, Aaron and the archer threw their right fists into a pair of straight punches which thunderously collided with one another. Unfortunately for Aaron and the archer, neither of their fists possessed the durability that they would have needed to have their bones withstand their collision with one another. Fortunately for Aaron and the archer, the two of them were far too high on adrenaline and testosterone to notice anything other than the fact that their fight with one another had yet to be settled.

"I'm not a Ylissean!" spat Aaron as he abruptly rocketed his left arm into an uppercut which struck the archer square in the jaw. As the archer reeled from the uppercut, Aaron used a cocky grin to to display fangs that were more than worthy of a hypercarnivore. "I'm a goddamn **AMERICAN**!"

"Well I'm a fucking **FEROXI**!" retorted the archer as she answered Aaron's uppercut with a haymaker from her right hand. While Aaron could have dodged the archer's haymaker, foolish machismo goaded Aaron into maneuver his face into the archer's haymaker rather than away from the the archer's haymaker. Consequently, the archer's haymaker managed to floor Aaron into an ungainly roll away from the archer. After a spat of blood, the archer smirked as Aaron brought his roll to a stop and then haphazardly struggled to push himself onto his feet.

"_**You're finished**_," murmured Aaron more to himself than to the archer. Immediately afterward and without warning, Aaron rocketed himself into a diagonal spin through the air. While the archer was still in the middle of a gasp, Aaron abruptly covered the distance between the archer and him and then ended his spin with a roundhouse kick to the archer's face. To even Aaron's surprise, the roundhouse kick sent the archer crashing through the porch's railing and then into a roll along the ground. As Aaron landed on the porch with desperate gasps for air, the archer brought her roll to an abrupt end by clawing into the ground with her fingernails. Subsequently, the archer burst into a fit of sadomasochistic cackles as she languidly stood to her feet in a zombie-like manner.

"Tuckered out already? That's quite a shame America-" was all the archer got to say before she was suddenly decapitated by a javelin of all things. Before Aaron managed to be shocked by the archer's sudden demise, the aforementioned javelin scared Aaron into jumping with fright by suddenly piercing into the ground right in front of Aaron's feet and thus embedding itself right before Aaron's eyes. With a heart that was beating faster than a drumline, Aaron fearfully stared at the javelin until a not-so-inconspicuous cough prompted him into taking a look at the stoical Frederick.

"This is not a game," stated Frederick as a fact rather than an opinion. Frederick then silently spurred Stigeweard into a gallop up the porch's staircase and towards the double doors of the two-storied cabin. As Frederick and Stigeweard crashed through the double doors, it dawned upon Aaron that Frederick was perfectly fine. While he was suffering from a feathered shoulder, a broken hand, and a broken nose; Frederick was no worse for the wear. In spite of the fact that he had been engaging the less dangerous archer and Frederick had been engaging the more dangerous myrmidon, Frederick was _**STILL**_ in better condition than him. To put it simply, Aaron realized that Frederick was _better_ than _him_.

And that pissed him off. Big time.


End file.
